


When I Want To Say 'I Love You' I Say...

by TwiExMachina



Category: RWBY
Genre: Aromantic, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 05:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3279197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwiExMachina/pseuds/TwiExMachina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a general rule, Nora doesn't love anybody.  Neither does Ren.  But Nora loves Ren.  Not in a ride into the sunset kind of way, but in a hold hands into the sunset kind of way and do the same thing they've always done kind of way.</p><p>Dedicated to Monty Oum</p>
            </blockquote>





	When I Want To Say 'I Love You' I Say...

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in about an hour, fueled by the song Boop and the knowledge of Monty's passing and the desire to create something for him. Characterization isn't perfect probably, but it's been a while since I watched the show and I wanted to get this out for Monty.

Nora and Ren didn’t “do” love. They still had their happily ever afters in their future, and they talked and dreamed about those, but there was no real picture of walking into the sunset with everyone. But then Nora started thinking differently, started looking at him differently. She thought “if I’m going to walk into the sunset, it’s going to be with that man.” But not in a romantic way, not in a kiss and I’ll carry you into the sunset, but in a I want to hold your hand because we’re friends. She just wanted to always be there for him and she wanted him to be there for her.

Words weren’t her strong suit though. She had a lot of them, a thesaurus of words longer than most thoughts people had to make herself known, she just didn’t connect the dots to make herself understood. There was so much to say to Ren, so much to do for Ren, that she found herself at a loss of what exactly to do. Either she talked too much about things that didn’t matter or not enough about the things that did. But she needed to do something because she couldn’t just sit like a sedentary princess in a castle. That wasn’t her style. She lived for the action, for the thrill of battle.

So she talked to him. Booped his nose. Fell asleep on his shoulder. Let him fall asleep on her shoulder while she took notes for the both of him. Drew pictures on the corner of his notes. Polished their weapons together. Sparred together with such ferocity that her heart sung and he glowed. It wasn’t much different then what she did before Beacon, before she realized she loved him. But it felt different. There was an energy in everything she did, one that she could see Ren internalize because that’s what he did with energy. He took everything he gave her and took it in and made it his, stored it away like cookies. She hoped that some days, when he felt like not waking up, her energy from days ago would pound into him and he’d get up and get dressed and go to class because of her.

That was all she needed. She was happy with that.

But she wanted to be happier. She wanted to give him more and more and more and she could do that with words. She gave up the careful construction of words that media said needed to come with a love confession and just settled for just saying it: “So I love you.”

“Okay.” Ren said, still focused on his weapon.

“Like a lot.”

Ren nodded, then her words caught up to his brain. “Wait what?”

“I love you,” she repeated

“I thought we were aro-ace.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we still are. But I love you.”

Ren looked confused.

“I got all these feelings. Like, happy jumpy emotions and stuttering body things whenever I’m around you. Or think of you. And I correctly identified it as love instead of the stomach flu. Like, it took me a while, but I did it.”

“So you’re in love…but you’re still aro?”

“Yep. Because it’s different. I can feel it. I don’t want to kiss you, I don’t have this strong urge to do anything like that. I want us to keep being friends, and I want to do it forever. I want us to hold hands as we die. If we did that, I’d be happy forever. If we didn’t, I’d be fine too. But that’s all. Just thought you should know.”

“Thank you.”

They went back to cleaning their weapons. Ren moved a bit slower, and his face got that look when he started thinking hard. Nora let him think and cleaned Magnhild while she hummed.

“I think I could love you.” Ren said.

Nora dropped her hammer.

“Not in a love way. But in a friend way.”

“That’s so cool!”

“But it’s not there yet.”

“Aw.”

“I need to think about it. Consider my options.”

“What other options are there?” Nor asked, drawing out the ‘there’ as she fell onto Ren’s shoulder.

“But I’ve established that I’m at the very least in Like with you. There’s a capital ‘l’ there.”

Nora hugged him, bouncing in her seat. “Awesome!”

Ren hugged her back and then pulled away. “Are yours clean?”

“Yep.”

They packed up and Ren took her finger. Just one. Nora pulled away and grabbed all of his fingers except for his thumb. He curled his hand in and rested his thumb on the back of her hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Feel free to check out my tumblr, [TwiExMachina](http://www.twiexmachina.tumblr.com), and drop a word or two.


End file.
